The police officer leading the Omagh bombing investigation has told the inquest that he knows who planned and carried out the 1998 explosion which killed 29.

RUC Acting Assistant Chief Constable Eric Anderson said only one person had been charged in connection with the bombing.

But he said the investigation was "active and ongoing," with a large volume of work still to be done two years after the worst single act of violence in 30 years of Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Mr Anderson was giving evidence on the 16th day of the inquest into the deaths in the dissident republican Real IRA blast in the busy centre of the County Tyrone town on 15 August 1998.

Mr Anderson told the inquest that the massive police inquiry had seen 6,500 people interviewed, 3,500 homes and premises visited and 2,700
statements recorded.

Eighty-one arrests had been made - 58 by the Irish police and 23 by the RUC - in an effort to apprehend the bombers and "the godfathers who sent them out," he told coroner John Leckey.

'Northern Ireland input'

Mr Anderson said the bomb had originated in County Louth but that the fact that there had been arrests by the RUC indicated that there had been an input from Northern Ireland into the bombing.

He said those who left the bomb in Omagh had then telephoned others who made the bomb warning calls.

The inquest has already heard that shoppers were moved towards the car bomb on Market Street after misleading warnings were given.

He said one person had been charged in the Republic of Ireland with conspiracy to cause the explosion.

'North-south co-operation'

The officer said a report on another person had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Irish Republic in relation to the theft of the car used in the bombing.

Asked if he was aware of who made up the entire team involved, he replied:
"There is good background knowledge as a result of the investigation, that is
correct."

He described the close liaison with police in the Irish Republic - the Garda
Siochana - involving "full and frank" exchange of information. Members of the
bomb squad in London had also lent their expertise, he said.

Mr Anderson was asked when there would be more arrests, but coroner John Leckey said that that question was irrelevant to the inquest.

His presence came after it emerged last week that Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne, had refused to send officers to testify at the hearing, because of fears it may compromise the sole prosecution
resulting from the investigation.